Home Again
by The TurquoiseCow
Summary: A group of unwanted kids is about to move far away, to a place they find is really home after all. Warning: Same sex relationships within. Don't like, don't read.[added Chapters Five and Six]
1. Leaving

Home Again

Part One: Leaving 

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingy #1: Digimon, all related characters, creatures, storylines, do not belong to me, but the plot does. 

Disclaimer Thingy #2: A note before we begin. This story contains a few plotlines and relationships that readers may be uncomfortable with. There _will _be same-sex relationships later in the story. If any one disagrees with that for religious, personal, or any other reasons, it is advised that they not continue reading. 

Another Note: This story is weird. 

***

The round, under-inflated black and white ball bounced off the boy's head and landed safely in the soft grass behind him. It rolled a few centimeters before settling safely at the curbside. 

"Ow," groaned the spiky-haired red-head who'd been hit with the ball. He sat down in the grass with a sigh. "Stupid ball," he muttered under his breath, rubbing his head.

Something behind him propelled the soccer ball forward and it rolled a few feet past the boy on the grass. "How can a ball be stupid?" a voice questioned. 

The boy on the grass flopped backwards, staring at the sky. "I don't know, it just does," he replied, still ill-tempered and not paying the least bit of attention to the voice. 

Another boy with large – no – _enormous_ – hair peered over his shoulder and laughed. "It'd be easier to play if you had at least one more person," he observed. 

"Yeah? And where am I supposed to find another person?" the other questioned, still not in the best of moods. He sat up and pointed towards the brownstone building a few feet from him. "Miyako's too busy with her machines to bother with soccer – never mind that she's horrible at it. Takeru's too busy with _girls_," he paused here to insert a face telling exactly just what he thought of _that_ particular activity, "Jyou's too busy studying – always studying, and you're never here." 

The large-haired boy shrugged. "I'm here now, Daisuke," he replied. "Wanna play?" 

The red-headed boy frowned slightly. "I'm too old to joke with that way, Taichi," he told him seriously. "I know you're too busy tonight – it's Saturday, and you always have some seminar thing to go to." 

The elder shook his head. "Not tonight," he replied. "Canceled." 

"Are you serious?" Daisuke was beginning to believe him, and he stood up. "They _never_ cancel." 

Taichi shrugged. "They did this time," he replied, hefting his jacket and bag over his shoulder. "Come on, let's try to get some of the others to play." 

***

A tall man in a white lab coat peered at the small brownstone building the van had parked in front of. "Are you _sure_ this is the place?" he questioned. 

The woman in the seat beside him peered past him to view the building. "Positive," she replied. "And I think those children there are some of our test subjects." 

They watched the contingent of children exit the building. They appeared to be middle-school age to mid teens. "They've already shown signs?" the man wondered, adjusting his glasses. 

"All the signs, sir," the woman replied. "They're all orphans. Some of them have siblings from the first group."

He nodded, pleased. "They'll be perfect then." 

***

"I don't know what you need me for," Inoue Miyako complained, sighing. "I've got much better things to work on. This program is almost finished." She clutched the bag with her laptop in it as though it was her lifeline. In a way, it was. No other orphan child under government protection would be allowed _near_ a laptop without supervision or allowed to have her own. She'd built this one from spare parts and pieces, an activity which had required many hours of foraging through junkyards.

"We _need_ you," Daisuke replied, taking her hand and dragging her to the grassy area they'd used for a soccer field. "Come on, drag yourself away from that thing for a moment. It won't kill you." 

Miyako responded by poking her nose slightly in the air. But even she knew better than to refuse a game for too long. Daisuke would eventually drag her on to the field, and it was better to agree to play and at least _pretend_ to like it rather than argue for several hours. So she left her laptop in a secure location where she could keep an eye on it from the field, and made Daisuke swear and promise on a million graves that nothing would happen to it. 

Takaishi Takeru was easier to convince – Miyako was really the only girl in the area, and she was uninterested in him – and he in her, so he was bored. He had been spending time writing a letter to a pop singer who would probably take no notice of the letter or bother to read it. So, when Daisuke began to try to cajole him into a game, he agreed more readily than usual. Takeru had begun to feel, although he was not yet ready to admit it, that perhaps girls weren't quite as interesting as he'd originally thought. 

Kido Jyou was hardest to persuade. A tall, thin boy with dark hair and glasses, he was not in the least what one would consider to be athletic. He was also actively pursuing a dream to become a doctor. Jyou was one of those orphans who was half-pitied and half-admired by the others, because he remembered his parents. His father had worked as a doctor for the government, which was why he was what some would consider lucky – he was allowed to stay in this government-protected house inside a military base and grew up with relatively decent surroundings. It was also part of the reason why he wanted to _be_ a doctor, even though he had, to be fair, a slim chance of succeeding at it. 

Eventually, Daisuke and Taichi had to fairly drag the boy from his bedroom and away from his books. "Come on, Jyou, it won't kill you to see the sun once in awhile," Taichi persuaded. Jyou protested all the way, but really had no choice in the matter.

And so, they assembled themselves on the square grassy field. Various military personnel marched past, some amused by the group of children, some annoyed, and some without noticing them. None of the kids noticed them, they were used to being surrounded by soldiers, – most had lived on this base since shortly after birth. 

Taichi, not the eldest, but most certainly the leader of the ragtag group because of his boisterous personality and eagerness to be active, set about sorting them into teams. It was only then that he, obviously _not_ a mathematical genius, noticed there were _five_ people. He cursed under his breath and sighed. 

"Don't worry, I'll make it even. I've got better things to do," Miyako decided, looking eagerly back at her laptop.

At the same time, Jyou took a step back. "It's all right, I really _should_ be studying. I'll go." 

"No way!" Daisuke shouted, and ran quickly to cut them both off. "We're going to play, even if we have uneven teams. So no one's going _anywhere_."  With that he adopted his most severe stare, obviously adopted from various house mothers and teachers over the years.

"Whoa," Takeru said just then, and all heads turned to see just what he was looking at. A tall, thin girl about the age of sixteen had just stepped off a bus that was making its rounds about the base. She was dressed entirely in pink, and her hair had also been dyed that color. 

"Who's that?" Miyako wondered. She'd long been rather bored as the only girl on the base interested in _being_ a girl. Most of the female officers were too busy following orders and doing military stuff to be interested in girlish things, and they were much older than her and therefore uninterested in spending time with her as well.

"I've never seen her before," Takeru noted, his blue eyes wide with curiosity and the usual lust a pre-teen boy feels upon seeing an attractive girl for the first time. 

As the entire group of five stared conspicuously at the new arrival, the girl, who was carrying a large duffel bag, waved cheerfully. "Hi!" she called, and they could just barely hear her. 

***

"Oh good, she's arrived," the tall man observed. He adjusted his glasses with on his nose and glanced back to the woman with him. "What does the report say about her?" 

"Tachikawa Mimi. Sixteen years old. Her parents were _extraordinarily_ rich, according to this, and they passed away when she was about four. Since then she's been shuffled through relatives before finally coming to stay with her paternal grandmother. The old woman died, however. One of our agents lived in the neighborhood and spotted the first signs and made arrangements for her to come here." The woman pushed a stray hair from her face. "Should we begin now?" 

"No, wait until tomorrow," the man replied. "It'll give us more time." 

***

"So you're one of us now, Mimi-san?" Miyako questioned. She was cheerful, which was an unusual state for her, but she had two good reasons. Not only was she no longer the only girl on the base, she also was saved from having to play soccer.

"I suppose so. At least for a while," the pink-haired girl replied with a thoughtful expression. The others had volunteered to help her carry the very heavy duffel bag to the brownstone residence. 

"I can't believe you have so much _stuff,_" Takeru marveled. He himself had only three really important possessions, and no where near enough to fill an entire duffel bag. 

"Oh, this isn't half of it," Mimi replied, not paying much attention to the blonde boy's shocked expression. "I had to leave some of it with Uncle. But he didn't want me to live with him. Somehow I got brought here." She frowned momentarily. "I'm not sure how that happened, really." 

"Most likely you were sent here because no one really wants you and there's some connection with the government," Jyou stated pessimistically. 

"The government?" Mimi wondered. 

Miyako nodded. "All of us had parents or something that worked for the government," she replied. "My older brother was in the navy. My parents ran a grocery store in Tokyo. The store was destroyed, my parents and siblings killed. My brother died at sea. The government was responsible for me, I had no other family." 

"How'd you manage to survive?" Mimi questioned, half shocked. 

The younger girl shrugged, adjusting her large round glasses on her nose and looking away. "Luck, I guess. One older sister survived, too, but she was moved somewhere else. I haven't seen her since I was very young." 

Takeru offered his story. "My father was in the military, and he and my mother split up when I was about two. I don't remember my father at all, but I vaguely remember my mother. Father was killed, and my brother lived with us for awhile. Then my mother was in an accident." He frowned deeply and shut his eyes as though he was holding back tears. "My brother was here for a while, but was moved. I don't know _what_ happened to him. I've been here since I was three." 

"I had a sister, too," Taichi recalled. By this point the group had reached the house and settled on the steps of the brownstone building. The sun was beginning to go down, and the tint of the sun made his skin look slightly orange. He stared at the ground as he spoke. "I don't remember my parents at all, and I don't think she'd remember me if she's even still alive. We were separated, too. I'm not sure what happened to my parents; I don't remember them at all. I don't remember where I was before this." 

"My father was a doctor in the military," Jyou stated. "I don't remember my mother. He died when I was about five or six. I remember a little bit of home, but not much." He shrugged.

"I suppose my story is really nice compared to all of yours," Mimi sighed. "My parents died when I was four. I've been living with my grandmother for as long as I can remember. She died recently, and somehow it was arranged for me to come here. I'm not sure why. I don't think either of my parents were in the military." 

"It could have been government related," Daisuke spoke up, the first words he'd said since Mimi had arrived. He stood in the doorway behind the steps, arms folded, and the expression on his face clearly indicated he was not in the mood to tell his own story. "Not necessarily the military." 

"Is that how it is with you?" Mimi asked, but before there could be a response, a voice from inside the house called "Dinner!" and the group dispersed. 

***

Motomiya Daisuke peered lazily at the clock beside his bed. The time read six am on the government-issued digital clock on the nightstand. He would have preferred a more interesting clock – one shaped like a soccer ball, for example, with hands pointing around a circle-shaped field. He'd seen one like that on the television set once, and wanted one – badly – but knew there was no way he'd ever get it. He hardly left the base anymore – and that meant no way to shop even if he'd had much money. 

The ceiling in his room had not been painted in many years, probably not since before he was born, and that was a good twelve years ago. Almost, anyway. As a result of the lack of funds for the orphans' home on the base, the paint was peeling in many places. It had become a game for him during times when he couldn't sleep to imagine shapes, faces, images, and such in the cracks. There was just enough sun peeking through the window for him to see clearly, so he reached under his pillow and removed the pad of paper. 

There was a creaking sound then, and he froze momentarily in place. Had someone heard him? Was someone else awake that early? The creaking continued then, followed by a sigh, and he let out a silent breath in relief. It was only Takeru, rolling over in the bunk below him. Daisuke removed a mechanical pencil from its hiding place as well and began to sketch quickly on the paper. 

The strokes were only an expression of boredom, really. There was a small school on the base that operated off and on throughout the year, but never really on a regular basis. Thus, Daisuke and his housemates were without much formal education. Once, however, he had taken an art class when he was younger, and the lesson had intrigued him enough to allow him to keep doodling. 

As he scratched the mechanical pencil along the paper, an almost-forgotten memory returned to him. He had been young, very young, and he'd been with his older sister – a girl he knew existed but could hardly remember. They had been walking somewhere, a city of some sort that he assumed was Tokyo because that was where he was from, and they had seen an artist on the street. Daisuke had watched, transfixed, while the artist quickly made the black marks on the paper transform into an almost photographic representation of the girl sitting for him. And so, the boy's long interest in drawing had begun. 

He hardly considered himself to be good, and was so lacking in confidence that he hid his papers and stole a pencil from one of the official offices. Mechanical pencils were the best, he'd decided, because they never needed to be sharpened, and a sharpener was even harder for him to obtain and hide then a pencil and paper. So he plucked a mechanical pencil from one of the offices on base and swiped a few pieces of paper from the school. In the early mornings or late at night, when he couldn't sleep, Daisuke would doodle, scribble, and sketch on the paper. 

He hardly paid attention to what he was drawing, so involved was he in recalling the forgotten memory. Lines and shapes appeared on the page without his notice, and the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, lighting the room even more. He was completely surprised when the alarm beside the bed began its harsh wakeup call at seven. 

There was no real reason to awaken at seven, but Takeru was a morning person. He enjoyed breakfast and watching the sun rise higher in the air. He also liked watching the military personnel begin their training, marching about officially – and that was usually at seven thirty. The house mothers – the kids never bothered with their names because they came and went so often – would never admit him to leave without breakfast, so he woke a half-hour early, devoured some food and watched the marches. Sometimes, when Daisuke was bored enough, which he often was, or if he was awake early, also a common occurrence, he would join the blonde boy, but not always. 

Quickly, Daisuke stuffed his paper and pencil under his pillow and jumped from the top bunk. He switched off the alarm, pulled the blankets from the lower bed, and proceeded to slam the pillow into his bunkmate's head. 

"Ow!" Takeru groaned, feigning injury. Daisuke laughed and hit him again. 

"Don't be such a baby," he teased. "Come on, didn't you hear the alarm?" 

"Yeah? So?" Takeru was grumpy, an unusual occurrence for the morning. 

"You're the one that sets the thing, I figured you'd want to get up," Daisuke replied. He climbed back to the top bunk and proceeded to remove the sheets and blankets from his bed, careful not to disturb the hidden items under his pillow. "Besides, it's Saturday, you know, washing day?" 

"Yeah, I know, I know," Takeru groaned. He was already awake, rubbing his eyes sleepily. "I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night," he muttered, going through the motions of pulling the covers from his bed. 

Daisuke responded by tossing the blankets from his bed, which landed on Takeru's head. 

"Ow," he grumbled again. "Is this beat up Takeru day?"

The other boy laughed. "Yeah," he replied. "A new holiday for all of Japan to celebrate! All of the world!" 

"Great," he muttered, but wasn't really grumpy anymore. Takeru rarely stayed grumpy for long. 

A short while later, the boys had changed into clothes and emerged into the kitchen of the house, carrying their sheets and blankets. They were most surprised to find that the room was not empty as was the ordinary occurrence this time of morning. 

"Good morning boys," a tall, dark-haired man dressed in a lab coat greeted them. Takeru and Daisuke exchanged nervous glances before bowing politely. 

"Good morning," they greeted in unison. 

"I see you're up early today," the man continued pleasantly, adjusting his glasses. "Big plans?" 

"No sir," Daisuke replied after a silence, since Takeru apparently had suddenly developed a case of laryngitis. "Just going to watch the marches." 

"You need the blankets for that?" he asked, observing their loads. 

Takeru found his voice. "No, sir," he managed to state, his voice scratchy. He coughed, clearing his voice. "Laundry day," he explained, more clearly. 

"Not today, boys," a voice behind the man spoke up. He was dressed in the usual military uniform, and held an official clipboard in his hands. "Wake up the others, you've got about a half hour to get all your things together. This place is being demolished." 

"Why?" Takeru questioned, too curious to keep silent any longer. 

"The building's old," the officer replied. "Just get packed." 

"Wait -," Daisuke spoke up. "What about us?" 

"You're being moved. Get packing. You have a half hour. Understood?" 

Again, the boys exchanged glances. "Yes sir," they replied in unison. 

…to be continued…


	2. Questions

Home Again

Part Two: Questions

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingies: First of all, Digimon, all related characters and whatnot aren't mine and I'm getting no money for the creation of this story – which IS mine. Secondly, this story contains as a major plot point some non-traditional relationships that some readers may not be comfortable with – specifically with same-sex relationships. Finally, I warn you that this story is _very_ strange.

***

Mimi sighed as she hefted the duffel bag over her shoulder. "Good thing I didn't unpack," she grumbled. Still sleepy, and in a rotten mood over being rushed out of bed that morning, she slouched in the back seat of the van, yawning. 

Miyako nodded, but was more concerned with keeping her laptop safe. Aside from a few photographs of her family, that was the most important thing she owned. She'd stuffed that, the photos, and the clothes she had into a pillowcase and thus was packed. She was slightly envious but mostly astonished at the notion that one could have enough things to fill an entire duffel bag with. 

Taichi, his own sack filled with his items, was grilling the younger boys about what had happened that morning. "Are you _sure_ they didn't say anything about where we're going?" 

"Positive," Daisuke replied for about the millionth time. "All he said was we had a half-hour to pack and we were moving. The house is being demolished." 

Miyako sighed as she peered out the window. "It's a shame, really," she noted. "It was a nice building. And I've been there for so long." 

"It was too small," Takeru grumbled, settling himself into the seat beside Daisuke. "I had to share a room with _Daisuke_." 

"Hey!" Daisuke was quite annoyed with that comment, but noted the mischievous glint in his roommate's eyes and stuck his tongue out. "You're not much fun either, mister set-the-alarm-for-seven-am!" he countered. 

Takeru grinned and Miyako rolled her eyes as the two started their twenty seven thousandth fight over the past month. She couldn't count high enough to number how many in the whole time she'd known them, but it was a lot. Usually it was good natured, like now, but occasionally they could result in violent scuffles that would go on for ages. Taichi would refuse to pull them apart unless there was risk of serious injury, and she and Jyou were powerless to stop them. Often they would continue until some form of authority – either their house mother guardian or some random officer – would break them up. 

"We ready to go?" the tall, dark haired man in a lab coat questioned, climbing into the driver's seat. 

"Almost," Taichi replied. "We're missing one more, sir." He was used to referring to the various authority figures in his life as 'sir,' because of living mainly on a military base, and this one was no exception even though he didn't appear to be wearing a military uniform. 

"I'm coming!" Jyou shouted. "Don't leave without me!" He carried a large, overstuffed, and tattered gym bag with him that was mostly filled with books. Quickly, the tall, dark haired boy dashed out of the brownstone house, across the small lawn and clamored quickly in to the passenger's seat. 

"I hope you don't mind," he half-apologized to the rest of the van's occupants. "But I get terribly carsick if I don't ride in the front seat. Is this going to be a long ride, sir?" 

"Not very long at all," the man replied. "And don't worry about the 'sir' stuff. I'm not a military man. Just a doctor." He flashed a quick grin around the van that set most of the children at ease. "Buckle up!" he announced, putting the key in the ignition and starting the car. 

"Begging your pardon sir, er, doctor, but where _are_ we going?" Taichi interrupted. Having lived around military personnel his entire life, he had adopted quite a bit of their speech habits, at least when dealing with those in authority over him. 

The doctor named another military base. "This particular base we're leaving has limited facilities for dealing with children," he explained. "The one we're going to is used to handling young people." By this time, the van had reached the gates, and they had to pause so that the doctor could hand over an authorization card to be allowed to exit. 

"Where will we stay?" Miyako wondered from the back seat. "Another house?" 

"No," the driver replied as he steered the car through the gate and out onto the main road. "There's a military facility there where you'll be staying that I think you might find nicer than the place you were living in." 

Daisuke was skeptical. "What's the catch?" he asked. "Why didn't you send us there before if their stuff is so much better? Why keep us at that old dump?" He waved his arm, gesturing to the base they were leaving. 

"Lots of reasons," the doctor answered. "Complicated military reasons. I can't really begin to understand them myself, honestly. You know how it is with government bureaucracy." He grinned a somewhat forced smile and laughed. 

***

Takeru observed the small, simple, military-style cot before him. He had a bureau to himself, a closet, and, in fact, an entire room, though small. He was overjoyed. No more dealing with a roommate! Yes!

He was so excited about the prospect that he immediately dumped his sack full of possessions on the bed and dashed into the room beside him. "Isn't it great?" Daisuke cheered, busy taking in the space of his own room. "All I need is some posters or a rug or maybe a good clock and then it would be _perfect_." 

The blond boy laughed, both at the enthusiasm and at the boy's eagerness for a 'good clock'. He knew exactly what Daisuke meant by a 'good' clock. 

There was a knock at the open door, and a woman dressed in a non-military outfit peered in. "You'll need to be dressed and ready in a few minutes. The doctor needs to speak with you." Her voice was kind, but firm. 

"We are dressed," Daisuke began to interrupt, but the woman shook her head. 

"Not the right way," she replied. "No more ratty civilian clothes." She grinned. "Check your closets and you'll find the clothes have been provided for you." 

***

After a bath, a change into clean clothes, and a thorough physical examination that left everyone feeling rather uncomfortable, the group of orphans was assembled in a small conference room. All were dressed in similar bland but clean uniforms – the boys in dark blue pants and lighter blue shirts, and the girls with dark blue skirts and similar shirts. The clothes were customized, apparently, because each had their name embroidered on the left side of the shirt. 

"Are we here for a reason?" Takeru wondered, settling himself in one of the chairs. "Because this doesn't seem much like the other base we were on." 

Taichi was frowning in agreement. He sat on the table. "I think so. It seems too…official. Like we're important for some reason." He pulled nervously at the collar of his shirt. "We never had personalized uniforms before." 

"Never had uniforms at all," Daisuke agreed. "So what do they want us for?"

"Maybe some sort of scientific experiment?" Jyou theorized. He looked as though he was under quite a bit of stress; slumped in his chair with a worried expression. 

Mimi shuddered slightly. "I don't like the sound of _that_," she said, half-whimpering. 

"They can't do anything _too _horrible," Miyako assured the other girl. "They'd get in trouble with the law." 

"Would they?" Jyou wondered. "This is the _military_, Miyako. They don't need to answer to the police or anything like that. As long as the public doesn't find out they're torturing poor innocent orphans, they can do what they want." 

Before anyone could respond to his statement, the door to the room opened and the doctor who'd brought them there entered. He was still dressed in the same lab coat as before, and now carried a pile of manila folders.

"It occurred to me that I hadn't introduced myself to you yet," he said, apologizing, as he shut the door behind him. "I am Doctor Fujiyama, and I'll be working closely with you over the next few months to make sure you are all prepared for the project." 

"Project?" Taichi repeated, but the doctor shook his head and waved the question aside. 

"I'll explain everything as much as I can, I promise," he assured them, handing a folder to each. "In the meantime, you'll have to go through a bit of training." 

"What sort of training?" Takeru wondered, taking the folder presented to him. 

"Testing, training, the usual thing. To make sure you're in good physical health. A medical exam or two, to make sure you're all healthy, and of course, a bit of studying is required, but I'm sure you all can handle that, right?" He grinned slightly and sat down at the chair at the end of the table. 

"We're used to studying," Jyou nodded. "But what exactly is this project about?" 

"Well, that's where it gets complicated…"

***

There was nothing but sand for miles around. Sand, sand, and more sand. Not a drop of water above the surface for quite some distance. It was blinding and dry, but beautiful at times, especially at times like these. 

A young man with dark hair stood on the balcony of a building as the sun set. The rays of brilliantly colored light stretched over the sand dunes, outlining the subtle changes in the landscape that would be completely changed with the next windstorm. 

"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice questioned from behind him, and he turned to see a pale-skinned girl with short brown hair enter the room. She was dressed in loose, linen garments, as was needed for the weather conditions one experienced in these parts. A loose hood covered her head, keeping her safe from the harsh sun. 

He was startled for a moment, not having noticed her entrance. "What?" he questioned, having not paid the least bit of attention to the scenery. 

She sighed and shook her head. "You seem worried, Ken. Is something wrong?" Cautiously, she walked across the room. Though none of them knew each other as well as they thought, and though she knew Ken as well as anyone could, she was still uncertain of how he would react to any sort of human contact. Something about him was – out of the ordinary. 

He sighed slightly, turning away from her to stare blankly at the sky once more. "You wouldn't understand." 

"Wouldn't I?" her voice was light, almost teasing now. He turned, somewhat surprised. No one usually bothered to tease him. "Why? Is it a _male_ concern?" 

"Perhaps," he said, non-committally. Ken was often non-committal, with vague answers and shrugs. Especially when questioned about his past.

"I need to show you something," she said then, and, without waiting for his approval or even a comment, she lowered the hood of her garment. 

"They've grown," he observed. 

"They have indeed," she nodded. Atop the girl's head was a pair of cat-like ears. "And they're becoming more sensitive. I hear…differently now."

He nodded, approving of that statement at least. "That, so far, is normal." The ears atop his own head twitched almost without his knowing, as though agreeing with him. 

She nearly laughed at his remark. "Normal," she said, half-snorting. "As though anything here were normal. As though you or I were any where _near_ normal." 

"Normal for us, I suppose, then. This place has some sort of new normality," he amended. "What does Sora say?" 

"She says they look very nice. They match my eyes," she replied. "I think she's nearly jealous," she added in a confidential tone. 

"I see." Ken was uninterested in that piece of information, but he did find it interesting that she thought of such things as jealousy in a place like this. 

"Koushiro said something about hormone levels and energies and all that," she added. "Still no sign of a tail. He suspects another month or two before the transformation is completed." 

"That's usually the time span," Ken nodded. He was becoming somewhat disinterested in the conversation, though he was trying not to show it. 

"So when I'm completed, Iori will be the only one of us left to look like a human," the girl finished. She sighed, though it was unclear whether it was contentment or worries that caused it. 

There was silence for a few minutes as they both pondered that. "Hikari," Ken said suddenly, turning away from his continued observance of the darkening sky for a moment. "Do you sense something – missing?" 

Now it was the girl's turn to blink in surprise. "Missing?" she repeated blankly. 

He turned away again quickly, hiding his embarrassment. "Never mind." 

"No, no, it's all right," she assured him. "Go on. What do you mean by missing?" 

"No, it's nothing." 

"It's not nothing, or you wouldn't have asked me," she protested. There was silence. She sighed. "I feel sometimes like there's things missing, yes," she admitted, slowly. "I feel like my life is missing – so many of my memories. From where we came from. I feel so lost here. I know we're not from here, so where _have _we come from?" 

"Sora can remember -," he began.

"I know Sora remembers. Jun remembers, too. And Momoe. And Koushiro, too, thought not much. But they don't know any _details_. What if we had family where we came from?" 

"There _are_ a lot of questions," he admitted. "Like, who built this place." He gestured to the room around him, and to the settlement beyond the window. "But that's not what I mean…"

Hikari looked at him curiously. "What _do_ you mean?" 

Ken sighed deeply, shoulders slumping slightly. "I'm not sure, really. Just like – there's a part of me – that's missing? Like there's someone that should be here that's not…" he trailed off, unable to really explain. 

There was another silence then, and he was about to give in, to accept that she had no idea what he was talking about and he was going insane. 

"I've had dreams," Hikari said then, breaking the silence. "Dreams of – someone. I can never see who – but I _know_ there's someone in them. We're always doing things, and we're always together, and it feels so…_right_." 

He nodded. "Exactly! And then you wake up and suddenly – "

"It feels so empty," she nodded, frowning for a moment. "I don't know who the other person is, but…"

"But?" he prompted, after she didn't continue right away. 

"But they're not – that is…," Hikari paused and cleared her throat. She studied her feet intently as she spoke the next part. "I'm fairly certain that the other person in my dreams is female." She looked up then, cautiously, from the side of her eyes, as if afraid of what might be said. 

Ken breathed a sigh of relief. "The person in my dreams isn't," he explained. 

"I don't understand why I should be so nervous about it," she confessed. "I mean, I don't remember any sort of childhood memories telling me that it was wrong to be with someone of the same gender, but still – "

"Somehow you just expect that it won't be accepted," he finished, nodding. "I know." 

The light was dim now, but it was easy to see that they were both much less troubled then before.

***

The main comment I've received in relation to this story is "Please Continue." Well, rest assured, I'm doing that. The other comment is that it was confusing. In the future, it will make more sense. This story is progressing slowly, but fear not, for more is to come. School's almost over for the summer, which means I'll have more time soon to work on writing! Yeah! Thanks for the reviews, and I hope you enjoy!


	3. Of Sci-Fi, Wings, and Dark Beings

Home Again

Part Three: Of Sci-Fi, Wings, and Dark Beings

Standard Disclaimer Thingies: 1. Digimon, all related characters and whatnot are not mine, but the plot is. 

2. This story contains romantic relationships that some people may be uncomfortable with, specifically same-sex relationships. These are major plot points and unavoidable.

3. This story is very, very strange. And in this chapter, the weirdness begins.

***

Doctor Fujiyama cleared his throat and opened his copy of the folder. "All the information you'll need to know is in these folders, but I'll go over the main story so you won't be so confused." He paused again, and each of the children appeared to be on the edge of their seats. 

"About seven years ago – give or take a few months – a group of orphans much like yourself was brought to this base. At that time there were no facilities here for children like the rooms you now inhabit. They slept in barracks that were being unused. They were also next to a building in which quite a bit of scientific testing was happening." 

"What sort of scientific testing?" Jyou wondered, paranoid instincts blaring full-blast now. 

"I'm not sure exactly," the doctor replied. "And, to be honest, I'm not sure exactly of how this happened – it's been a long time you know…" he cleared his throat again. "One of the experiments that was being conducted was rather unstable. It was also very unauthorized. None of the commanding officers on the base knew what was going on." 

"How is that possible?" Taichi wondered. 

The doctor shook his head with a disgusted expression. "I'm not sure," he replied. "A complete lack of security, it seems." 

"What exactly _was_ this experiment?" Takeru questioned. 

"That I can't tell you either. In fact, no one can. The three people that were conducting the experiments are – indisposed." 

"Indisposed?" Mimi repeated. 

"He means missing," Miyako explained, frowning. 

"Why are they indisposed?" Daisuke asked.

The doctor sighed. "I'm not sure. I'm not told very much about this, you know." He grinned nervously, but all could see that he was sweating slightly. "At any rate, somehow or another the group of orphans on this base somehow made its way into the room where the experiment was being conducted." 

There was a long pause as the doctor let the information sink in and prepared himself for the next part. 

"There was some sort of explosion, and the room was nearly destroyed. The children were never seen again. After some amount of research and investigation, we discovered that the researchers on that unauthorized experiment had, intended or not, discovered a portal to another world." 

"Another world?" All six repeated in disbelief. 

Miyako chuckled somewhat nervously. "Sorry, doctor, but your story sounds like it comes from a science fiction movie." 

Daisuke agreed. "You don't expect us to believe that, do you?" 

"Believe it or not," the doctor replied, undaunted by their skepticism. "The information and evidence is all in the folders I gave you." 

"This is all very interesting, but what does this have to do with us?" Taichi questioned, getting to the point. 

"Since the – incident, we've managed to recreate several times the exact experimental conditions. We've theorized that the device was successful and that the children were somehow sucked into another world. We've also tried to go after them." 

"And?" Jyou prompted nervously. 

"It would appear that a major flaw in the device's development is that it cannot be used by adults," Fujiyama replied. "Each officer we've tried to send through has suffered extreme physical injury." 

"Why?" Mimi asked. 

The doctor sighed. "It would appear that adult bodies are simply unable to handle the conditions that the inter-dimensional travel places on them. We've also noticed a few – unique characteristics that the first group had which you six share." 

"What sort of unique characteristics?" Takeru wanted to know. 

"It's very complicated, actually. I don't understand all of it myself. Certain parts of your DNA are similar, some of you may actually have been distantly related to the first orphans." 

Miyako shook her head. "Not possible," she said. "I know personally that I have _no_ living relatives." 

"Distantly, distantly. Possibly _very_ distantly," the doctor assured them. 

"So – you're saying you want _us_ to travel to another dimension in search of a bunch of kids," Taichi concluded. 

"Through a machine that no one else has managed to successfully use," Jyou added. 

Takeru shook his head. "Doesn't make sense. Why would you be so worried about a bunch of orphans?" 

The doctor opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Miyako interrupted. "They're not," she noted. "They're just interested in trying to get to another world. If we manage to find the first orphans, great, but that's not our actual mission. Is it?" 

Daisuke snorted slightly. "Dirty game." 

Fujiyama pulled nervously on his tie and adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps, perhaps," he replied. "I'm just given orders and I follow them. I don't make any decisions around here. The decision to go on this trip is entirely yours. If you don't want to, you don't have to." 

"So then what happens to us if we refuse?" Mimi asked. 

He shrugged. "I'm not sure, actually. Perhaps you might be placed with a family, or taken to another base." 

Now Taichi snorted in disbelief. "Not likely to be placed with a family this late," he noted. "Families adopt and take on babies and younger children. Not fifteen or sixteen year old orphans that have no place to go and require time and money." 

"I say we do it," Takeru put in. "The other world can't be too horrible, if we succeed at getting to it. It can't be that much more horrible than this one, except this one doesn't have any place for us."

"Why not?" Daisuke shrugged slightly. "If we get killed in the process we've at least saved someone money, right? And if we survive, we've got something to do besides hang around a military base and watch the troops march." 

"I'm not sure I want to do anything this dangerous," Mimi sighed. "But you have a point. There's no place for me here, either. I've spent enough time being shuffled between distant, uncaring relatives just because they don't have any place to put me." 

Miyako frowned in thought for a moment. "It seems to have benefits," she observed. "I don't particularly like the thought of being shuffled around some more. I liked the stability at the old base. But if we can't go back there and we're not wanted anywhere else – I'd say we really have no choice." 

"I'm concerned about what sort of preparation we're going to have for this trip," Jyou spoke up. "What if the other world isn't civilized? What if there are – dinosaurs, or monsters or something? Diseases that we have no defense against?" 

"You'll be given quite a bit of medical supplies," Fujiyama informed him. "As for the other things? Well, I can't guarantee your safety against that. We don't know anything about that world. There are definite risks." 

"There are risks in this world, too," the boy noted. He looked hesitant for a moment. "But Miyako's right. We don't have a choice." He sighed. 

"Come on Jyou, aren't you looking forward to the adventure?" Taichi questioned. "I am. Life here's too boring. In that world, we have a chance to make some sort of a difference and hopefully save some kids. I say we do it." He glanced around the table, and noted that the others were less enthusiastic, but still agreeing. 

"Fabulous!" Fujiyama smiled too cheerfully. "Now, what I need you all to do is to first read over those folders I gave you. We'll get started on the preparations tomorrow." 

***

Hikari absently scratched the spot on her back that was beginning to itch as she scribbled something on a piece of paper. Suddenly, the enhanced cat-like ears atop her head detected movement elsewhere in the building. She put the paper in a box and turned to face the entrance. A moment later, the purple-blue cloth that covered the doorway parted to reveal an auburn-haired girl a few years older than her. 

"Sora. What brings you here?" Hikari greeted her. 

Sora was dressed in pink and blue colored cloth that almost resembled the traditional kimono. In the hot climate, light clothes were necessary, and the loose wrap was worn by almost all of the females. This particular one hung just past her knees. It had short sleeves that could be pulled up to allow the shoulders to be visible, or hung low during the cold nights. There was also a hood that could be pulled up to protect the wearer's head from the harsh sun. 

"I wanted to see how you were coming along," the older girl replied. "I see your ears are working well now." 

"I heard you from the moment you entered the building," she informed her. "It's really amazing." As if to prove that statement, the brown ears twitched slightly. 

"Just wait until you're finished," Sora told her, smiling. "Then you'll _really_ be amazed." The ears atop her head were an auburn color a few shades darker than her hair, and they'd been there for three years now. 

"So the theory is now that they develop with the onset of puberty, right?" Hikari turned to the pitcher of water she had resting in the shadiest part of the room.

"Seems to be so," she replied, removing a few clay, handmade cups from the table nearby. There was a pause as Hikari poured the water, and then they both took a drink. "Very cold. Nice." 

"Then I suppose Iori will look human for a few more years then," Hikari noted, sipping the water and sitting in one of the chairs. 

"Most likely," Sora agreed. "He's got a bit of time remaining." There was a moment of silence then as both drank the water. "I wonder if it's that we were never human to begin with or that this place does this to _all_ humans?" 

"Maybe it does," the younger girl mused. "We're the first to come here, as far as we know, right?" 

"As far as we know," she nodded. "But there was _something_ here before. Something that built this very building." 

Hikari shivered slightly. "I wish we knew what happened to them." 

Before Sora could reply, the sky suddenly became very dark.  

***

Daisuke was in his room, flipping through the papers in the folder he had been given when a knock came at the door. Setting the file aside, he stood up and crossed the room to open it. 

"Any progress?" Takeru questioned. 

"Some. What are you doing here?" 

"It's lonely in my room," the blonde boy confessed. "I'm not used to being alone. Besides, some of this stuff is really outrageous." 

"Outrageous?" the other echoed. "Like what?" 

Takeru crossed the room and sat down on the bed while Daisuke closed the door. "Like that experiment they were trying to run. Apparently the three guys trying to do it had no idea what was going to happen. Being successful was completely by chance." 

"Why do you say that?" 

"Look at this file," Takeru held up a paper. "One guy was a graduate of the University in Tokyo, but had a degree in Languages. The other went into the military after barely passing his last year of high school on the third try. He didn't even attempt university."

"And the third worked part time at his father's fish market," Daisuke read from the paper. "He wasn't even _in_ the military and had no education past high school." He looked up, confused. "How did they even get access to the science labs?" 

The other boy shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. But I'd say they had some real security issues on this base." 

"I wonder how they managed to cover up the kids' disappearance," Daisuke thought aloud, frowning in thought. "They couldn't have told the rest of the military that they'd been lost in an accident." 

"Probably did what they could to keep it silent. Would explain why we hadn't heard anything about it." 

"Aside from the fact that we were four years old when it happened?" 

"We still would have heard something. Especially living on a military base," Takeru countered. "With security blunders like that, the rest of the bases would have been under pressure to crack down." 

"They might have even gone far enough as to prohibit children. But they didn't," Daisuke mused. "And that's another thing. There's no information in here about the children." 

"They might give it to us later." 

"I'd think they'd give it to us right away," he disagreed. "You know, show them the pictures of the poor lost children and they'll agree to go. But they didn't. Why not?" 

Takeru frowned. "They're definitely hiding something," he noted. "But the question is – why? And what are they hiding?" 

***

Koushiro was hard at work at trying to make sense of the machinery he'd assembled in the building he called home on this strange world when the sky went dark. 

"Everybody underground!" Yamato was shouting from somewhere in the sky. "Hide!" In a daze, the resident science expert thought that perhaps it might be best if Yamato weren't giving that particular advice while flying through the sky. Still, he didn't have time to ponder, he knew that the advice was worth taking even though the one giving it wasn't following it. So, quickly, he began to make his way down the stairs and into the basement of his home. 

He didn't get very far, however, because on the way down the steps, something flew in from behind him and grabbed the red-brown tail that had only finished growing a week ago. Instinctively, he spread the similarly colored wings and leapt into the air, but he had no hope of gaining enough leverage to lift off the ground. 

"Help –!" he yelled as loudly as possible, but before he could see if anyone had heard his cries, he was lifted into the air and had left the ground far below. 

Sora had just finished helping Hikari into the basement when she heard the desperate shout for assistance. "Koushiro!" she called, and spotted the black – thing – go flying away. "Yamato!" she called to the boy who had just landed on a nearby rooftop. "It's got Koushiro!" 

"Shit," Yamato cursed under his breath and spread his own magnificently pale yellow wings. "I'm on it." 

"I'm helping!" another voice called, and a girl with short, dark-red hair leapt into the air after him, spreading her own maroon-colored wings and soaring through the clear sky after the disappearing figures. 

"Jun!" another female shouted, and a girl with shorter purple-colored hair watched her go. "Be careful!"

***

Told you this was weird, didn't I? Sorry for the short chapters. They're necessary, believe it or not, because of the suspenseful nature of the story. If I give away too much in one chapter, other chapters will have less to talk about. 

Also: apologies for the possibly clichéd science fiction devices. I have little knowledge of inter-dimensional portals. If everything seems convenient, well, that's because it _is_. This is not just because of me, this is a part of the story! Besides, the real excitement happens once the two groups are connected. 

Thanks for sticking with me, and for all the great reviews on this chapter. Hopefully now that I'm done with this semester of school, things will progress more quickly. ^_^


	4. Preparations

Home Again

Part Four: Preparations

Three Standard Disclaimer Thingies: 

1. Digimon, all related characters and merchandise are not mine. This plot is. 

2. This plot contains relationships some readers may not be comfortable with, specifically same-gender relations. These are unavoidable, major plot points. 

3. This is a very strange story. 

***

Taichi frowned as he wiped the towel over his forehead and peered in the mirror. "I look like hell," he pronounced. 

"More so than usual?" Takeru questioned, grinning. 

"Watch it, Takaishi," the older boy frowned, swinging the towel in the direction of the other boy. Takeru, unfortunately, was too quick, and able to step easily out of the way. 

"Missed me!" the blonde boy taunted, dancing away. 

"How can you have so much – energy?" Jyou questioned, holding his own towel around his neck. 

Takeru shrugged, sitting on the bench and untying his sneakers. "I dunno. Just do." 

"That workout was enough to make me want to take a nap," Taichi groaned, giving up on his pursuit of the younger boy and leaning back on the bench. "I'm not sure I understand why we need to lift weights and run laps." 

"If we were in another world and we were being chased by a giant monster, you wouldn't think that way," Jyou stated wisely, removing his glasses so he could pull his shirt over his head. Voice muffled, he continued: "Then you'd be glad for the training." 

"It could be worse," Takeru told him. "This isn't so bad. I like it." 

Immediately, both older boys responded by heaving their towels in his direction. 

***

Sora paced nervously atop the roof of one of the buildings. Every so often, she would pause and peer worriedly at the sky, and then she would resume pacing. Hikari glanced upwards and sighed.   
"No sign of them yet?" Iori questioned from behind her. 

Startled, the girl turned to see the smallest of their group peering at her with questioning eyes. Iori might have been the youngest, but he was quite observant and wise for his age. 

"Doesn't look like it," she replied. "I hope Koushiro is all right."

 "As do I," Iori nodded. "Koushiro-sempai is a valuable member of our team." 

"He is," Hikari nodded. "Without him, who knows if we'll be able to find out what those dark things are." 

"Or if we'll be able to get him back," Iori nodded. "Is Sora-san all right?" 

"Yeah, she's just very worried, Iori-kun," she assured him. "She and Yamato are the oldest, so they feel quite a bit of responsibility for the rest of us. If something were to happen to Koushiro, she'd feel almost like it's her fault." 

"Hikari-san?" 

"Yes?" 

"What do you think those dark things are?" 

Hikari thought for a moment. Iori could tell she was thinking deeply, because the newly-formed ears atop her head twitched as she thought. "I'm not sure," she said after a moment. "They could be animals of some sort. Maybe there's no equivalent on Earth." 

"One thing's for sure," another voice spoke up behind them. "And that is that they want something from us." 

"What do you think they want, Ken-san?" Iori asked. 

The dark-haired boy frowned. "I'm not sure," he said. "But I don't think they're after us for food. I don't think they'll kill Koushiro. They just …_ want_ something." 

"Maybe energy?" Hikari theorized. 

"Energy?" Iori repeated.

"Life energy. Maybe they just…feed on energy. Maybe they keep you alive just enough so that they can keep stealing your life energy." 

Iori shuddered. 

Ken shrugged. "It's possible." 

"But then – how do we stop them?" Iori asked. 

***

Miyako peered over the files she'd been given to read regarding the system they were supposed to use to get to the new world. Though much of her knowledge of such things was limited, Fujiyama had given her some information on it so that she might be informed.

Mimi peered around the opened door of Miyako's room. "How goes it?" 

"Slowly," Miyako replied with a sigh, setting the files aside. "Most of that stuff is gibberish. It'd make more sense to me if it was written in Greek." 

"That bad, huh?" The older girl sat in the chair beside the bed. 

"Worse," she replied. "Don't you have anything to do?" 

"Well, Takeru, Taichi, and Jyou were having some sort of workout, and they're taking showers," Mimi reported. "I'm not sure where Daisuke is. But I finished my own workout and showering, so now I'm free until dinner." She grinned cheerfully. "Which is only a half-hour away."       

"What'd you have to do?" 

"Oh, the usual stuff. Run around in circles, do pushups, lift a few weights, run a treadmill. A lot like the things I used to do back home with Grandmother."  

"Not too bad," Miyako nodded in agreement, rubbing her tired eyes. "This stuff is hard work," she noted, gesturing towards the files. "Maybe we can't handle being in another dimension." 

Mimi shrugged. "Maybe not," she agreed. "But we have to try. You look tired, Miyako-chan. Have you slept well?" 

"Not really," she confessed. "Hard time falling asleep. And then this strange dream…"

"Strange dream?" Mimi repeated. "About what?" 

"I don't remember. I just know it was strange." 

***

Yamato landed gently on the roof of the building beside Sora and folded his giant-sized wings behind him. "Damn it," he muttered. 

"It wasn't your fault," Jun assured him. "They're fast-moving. There was _no way_ we could have caught them." 

"If only we could have followed them," the tall boy sighed. "At least we would have had some way of finding him again." 

"No luck?" Sora questioned. 

"Those things – whatever they are – move faster than airplanes," Jun grumbled. "Even with the wind on our side there was no way we could have caught up. We followed as far as we could, but it wasn't any use." Frustrated, she slammed a fist on the wall of the roof. 

"We really needed Koushiro, too," Yamato sighed. He was drained. Wearily, he leaned against the wall. "Now we'll probably never figure out what those things are." 

"Jun! You're all right!" From the stairs on the inside of the building, another female with short purple hair darted quickly across the roof and latched onto the other girl. 

"Momoe. Yes I'm fine," the other girl assured her as they embraced. "No sign of Koushiro, though." 

"None?" Momoe repeated. "Oh dear. This is horrible." 

Sora sighed in agreement. "It is. I don't know what we'll do now." 

***

Miyako slept soundly that night, her mind tired from absorbing the gibberish she'd been reading for the past few weeks. Slowly, it was beginning to make more sense, so that she was nearly certain it was at least written in Japanese. But it was hard, slow work, and it left her exhausted. 

She'd been having strange dreams lately, though she wasn't sure at first what they were about. Now, she discovered they were all the same dream, and with time she'd begun to remember them.   
Miyako dreamt of flying. Soaring effortlessly above the clouds without benefit of machines or anything. Flying under her own power. She'd never had such dreams before, and she wondered if the confusing computer language was affecting her sleep or if it was some sort of fantasy about what she might find in the other world. She knew, however, that when she awoke each morning she wanted to return to sleep, if only to sail over the earth once more. 

This night, however, there was more to the dream. Tonight, Miyako did not fly alone, but with a companion. Through bright sunlight, she saw that the person flying by her side was a beautiful girl, dressed in a colorful kimono and with angelic wings behind her. When she awoke again, Miyako wondered if she might be in love…

***

"If only there was someway to defend against them," Yamato growled, frustrated. He was pacing back and forth in the small underground room, greatly disturbed by Koushiro's disappearance. 

"I think we need to consider moving from here," Jun spoke up. "It's been three weeks, and they've attacked each day. We either need to move permanently underground, or move elsewhere." 

"Yes, but where?" Momoe questioned, putting a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "We haven't any clue where to go." 

"Maybe these dark creatures are the reason whoever built this place left," Hikari wondered. 

"Doubtful," Ken stated. "They wouldn't have survived long enough to build the buildings." 

"What if – the great amount of people that lived in this city attracted the creatures?" Iori spoke, softly. "If they really _do_ feed on life energy, then perhaps they attacked whoever lived here because of the large amount of life energy?"   
"That's possible," the older boy agreed. "But still, it would have taken a long time for even many people to build this city."  
Sora nodded in concurrence. "The dark creatures might be a new occurrence."

Yamato was growing even more impatient. "Moving isn't a bad idea," he spoke up. "But we definitely need to find a better place to go. We can't just leave and walk. We don't know where anything is." 

"So what should we do then," Jun countered, " – find a travel center and buy a map?" 

"I personally am not really interested in moving permanently underground," Sora put in, raising a hand. "Anyone else?"   
There was a moment of silence, but no one disagreed. "Then it's settled. We'll move," Hikari nodded. 

"But to where?" Yamato wondered. "And who says they won't follow us?" 

***

"It's been two months now," Fujiyama was saying to the small group seated in the conference room. "I'd like us to now go over the progress we've made so far." He looked over the clipboard he held in his hands. "I see the physical workouts are progressing nicely…" He paused and peered over the group. 

The children collectively nodded. 

"Good. I estimate that you'll be ready to go in another few weeks," the doctor nodded. "Supplies are nearly gathered." He turned towards Jyou. "How is the studying?" 

"I've been studying over books of various medicinal herbs," the dark-haired boy replied. "I think that perhaps _some_ of the plants in the other world may be similar to what we have here, and may be useful. We can't take unlimited amounts of supplies or medicines, and we many not be able to replenish them once we arrive there. If some of the plants there can substitute medicines, it could cut down on the amount of supplies we need to bring with us."

"Good," Fujiyama nodded. "How are you progressing?"  
"Pretty well," he answered, but added: "I think it would be best to take at least _some_ of these books along in case of emergencies." 

"I'm sure that can be arranged. Who was in charge of supplies?" 

Mimi raised a hand. "That would be me," she announced. Standing, she opened her manila folder, taking out a few sheets of paper, which she began to pass out to the group. "After some amount of research I've learned the precise weight which will be comfortable for one to carry on their back for long periods of time. Taking into account that there are six of us, I've divided up the supplies we'll need to take into six different bags – this way everyone will be able to carry the same amount." 

Takeru raised a curious hand. "What about personal belongings?" he questioned. 

The girl shrugged slightly. "Bring as many personal belongings as you feel you can effectively carry," she replied. "Just be aware that you'll have to carry them, possibly for a long walk." 

"Exactly what will we need to bring, aside from medical supplies?" Taichi questioned, peering over the list Mimi had given him. 

"Each of us will have a fair supply of food, enough to last several days," she replied. "There won't be enough room for a lot of clothes, so we'll each have to survive with bringing along only one extra outfit." 

"Along with coats, right?" Miyako spoke up. 

"That would be a good idea, since we don't know anything about the weather there," Mimi nodded.

"What sort of food _are_ we bringing?" Daisuke questioned with a worried air. 

"Mostly dried supplies. Powdered milk, some trail rations, dried meat, dried fruit. We don't know if we'll be in the wilderness or an urban landscape, so I decided it best to pack as though for a camping trip." 

"I'm going to assume that we've thought about shelter, then, right?" Jyou spoke up. 

Again the girl nodded. "There's blankets for each of us, and two tents, one for the males, one for the females. On the lists you'll see that each person carries their own supplies, and the supplies used by all of us are divided among the group. Anything extra you want to bring is up to you to carry." 

There was a moment of silence then as everyone looked over the papers Mimi had given out. Then Fujiyama spoke again. "Thank you," he said, directed towards the girl. He turned towards Miyako. "Any progress with communications?" 

Miyako sighed. "Not much," she admitted. "I've always thought I was good with technology, but this stuff is a bit advanced for me. I think that between the six of us, if we could possibly have short-wave radios we could communicate with each other. As for communicating with the doctors back here, I have no idea if that would be possible." 

"Is there anyway we could test that?" Takeru wondered. 

"Aside from going through to the other world and trying it? No." 

"What if you just tossed a radio through the portal and tired to see if you could pick up a signal from it back here?" Taichi wondered. "Set the communicator to emit a distress signal or something and then see if it can be read here?" 

"It might work," Miyako agreed, slowly. She glanced at the doctor. "Is it possible to try that?" 

"I shall certainly look into it," Fujiyama nodded.

***

Yes, more sci-fi clichés abound… 

Boy, it's been a long time since I updated this! This summer, believe it or not, has been busy for me. I won't bore you with the details of my "life" (if you can call it that) but rest assure, I won't be another three months getting more chapters out! 

Few small comments: Actually, they're not turning into _Digimon_, exactly. You'll see, as the story progresses and I get more into detail about the transformations, that sometimes the things they turn into resemble their partners, but there are no actual digimon in this story. Sorry, but this is just too weird to throw in the weirdness that is the actual digimon. The only strange creatures set to appear besides the main 12 kids are the strange dark things, which are also not digimon. 

In response to concerns I've gotten about couplings… I'm not telling. So there. :-P hehe. Actually, I think it'll be really obvious in the upcoming chapters who I've decided to pair with who, but I'm not going to give it away early. Sorry! ^_~ ^_^

At any rate, thanks for the nice comments I've gotten, I'm pleased to see people are reacting to this story well. It's very weird and I was worried most people would be like "Ah, I'm not reading that! It's weird!" ^_^ Thanks for reading and reviewing, and stay tuned!


	5. Thoughts of Past and Future

Home Again

Part Five: Thoughts of Past and Future

Standard Disclaimer Thingies: Digimon - not mine. This plot - is. This plot - is strange! This story also contains unavoidable references to various same-sex relationships that some readers may have problems with. 

***

Sora packed the remainder of her clothes into the small bag and tied the drawstring shut. She was flooded with memories then, recalling how she'd found the material for the bag when they'd first discovered this abandoned city and she'd decided it would be useful for carrying things, especially if they needed to move on. Since then, she hadn't used it much, as they'd stayed in one place for many years, but she was pleased to see that it was still as sturdy as the day she'd made it. It was a thick, leather-like material, which made it perfect for holding a wide variety of items. 

Now the bag was finally going to be useful. Since Koushiro had been taken by the dark beings, they'd been more and more in danger, and no one could deny that they needed to find somewhere safer. As much as they hated to leave this place - the closest most of them could remember to having a home - and as much as they wished they could save their friend, they'd all eventually agreed that it was best to move on. 

With a heavy sigh, Sora peered around the room she'd called her own for most of her life. Aside from the table and chair which had been there when she'd arrived, the room was empty. Only one item remained as evidence of its former occupant - a faded photograph lying on the table. Sora turned the object over in her hand, wishing she could remember more about it. 

"Sora-san?" Iori's quiet voice interrupted from the door. Startling slightly, she turned to see the small boy peering through the curtain. "Sorry. I'm finished packing. Did I interrupt you?" 

She shook her head slowly. "It's all right, Iori-kun," she replied. "I was just...remembering." 

Curious, the boy stepped into the room and came to stand beside her. "Is that you?" he questioned, peering over her arm at the photograph. A smiling, cheerful red-headed girl waved at the camera while a dark-haired, more solemn woman stood behind her, smiling with pride. 

"Yes," Sora replied. "And that's my mother." 

Iori nodded solemnly. He remembered nothing of his parents, and had no pictures to give clues. Sora was the closest thing he'd ever had to a mother, and he was fascinated by the photograph. "Do you know what happened to her?" he wondered. 

The girl didn't respond right away. She pulled her gaze from the photo and peered at the wall for a moment. "I'm not sure," she said then, and perceptive Iori realized that somehow Sora had pulled up memories that made her feel sad. Unsure of what to do, he merely stood, watching as the normally composed girl pulled herself together and stuffed the picture into her bag. "Everything's packed, huh?" she asked, changing the subject.

***

"When do you think we'll leave?" 

Takeru asked the question without preamble, breaking the silence. Daisuke, who'd been peering seriously over some papers and trying to stay awake, looked up and studied the blond boy's questioning face for a moment before he replied. 

"I'm not sure," he said, finally. 

Sighing, the boy lay back on the bed - Daisuke's bed, since he had once again felt too lonely in his own room to stay there. "I hope it's soon." 

Daisuke peered enviously for a moment at his relaxed state, and thought with some amount of distaste that for someone who'd so much wanted his own room, Takeru didn't spend much time in it. He didn't comment on this, though. He was too tired to start an argument. "Why?" he asked instead, pushing the papers aside. 

"I'm tired of being here." The words were spoken with a tone that betrayed the boy's seriousness, yet he stated them quickly. Daisuke wondered if that was because he'd thought long about the statement or because he hadn't needed to. 

He didn't have a chance to agree or disagree with the statement, however, because his exhaustion interrupted, causing him to yawn. "I'm tired, period," he said instead. 

"Is that my cue?" 

"To get out," he nodded. "Go get some sleep. And try not to be so cheerful in the morning."

"Will do," Takeru replied, mock-saluting as he lifted his own papers and prepared to leave. "But I can't promise not to be cheerful." 

"Whatever. Get out," Daisuke replied with a good-natured grumble, shutting the door. Takeru was his best friend, one of his only friends, but he couldn't help wondering that if he were given the chance he wouldn't have found someone else. 

And what sort of friend would he have, if he'd had the chance to grow up with parents and go to school and meet people who would be friends with him? He'd thought about this before. Indeed, he had a mental picture of the best friend he'd have if he had that perfect life. Not that Takeru wasn't perfect. Not that Daisuke was perfect. But - and he had to admit this to himself - Takeru and he were friends more out of necessity than true compatibility. 

The thoughts were deep, too deep, and Daisuke was too tired to think about the life that would have been or could have been but at any rate never was. He'd learned long ago that crying over things he couldn't even remember was useless. Yawning again, he removed his clean, pressed, personalized uniform, and tossed it sloppily over the chair. He wondered vaguely if he would be addressed as "Takeru" if he and the boy were to change shirts. 

Slowly, his thoughts drifted toward the more absurd. He climbed into bed, shut the light, and his thoughts floated to dreamland. 

It was a strange scene that awaited the boy in the land of dreams. As most of his nighttime thoughts began, he was in the middle of a bustling city. _'Tokyo,'_ he thought, because he knew for a fact that was where he was from. That was the place listed on his records as birthplace. 

The bustling crowds common to the city surrounded him, and he felt a sense of loss. He searched for whoever was supposed to be with him - usually in these dreams it was his sister, though he never found her - but he recognized none of the faces. 

"Hey, move it," a rude man shouted, running past him and shoving him aside. Daisuke watched, confused and helpless, as the man barreled past and ran down a flight of steps that appeared to be headed underground. _'Subway,'_ Daisuke's semi-conscious mind recognized, and without really understanding why, he followed him down the steps. 

_'You're here,'_ a voice spoke then, almost in his ear, almost a whisper, almost a thought of his own. 

_'Where?'_ he wondered, and was surprised to find the same voice answer. 

_'It's your dream,'_ it replied candidly. _'You should know best. It was your mind that created this.'_

_'It's from a memory,'_ Daisuke realized then. _'From when I was a child - Are you my sister?' _

In response, the air appeared to thicken, and the crowded subway station suddenly emptied of people. A boy not much older than he appeared. _'I should think not,'_ the boy said, with a sly grin. 

_'You're not a memory!' _ he realized, astonished. _'I know I didn't create you! Where did you come from?'_

_'From where all dream images come,' _the boy replied, shrugging. _'I am a memory, Daisuke, but not one from this life.'_

_'Not from this life - ?' _he struggled to comprehend this. _'But then - from an earlier life?'_

_'From many earlier lives, Dai,'_ the boy replied. He casually brushed his hair from his eyes, and the light glinted off the shiny locks. For a moment, Daisuke found himself captivated. 

_'Then I do know you. But - not in this life,'_ he replied slowly, shaking off the dazzled sensation. It was only hair, he reminded himself. No need to be so distracted. 

_'No,'_ the boy replied solemnly. _'Not yet. And I fear we will never meet.'_

_'Why?'_ Daisuke wondered. 

_'Because we _must_ meet this time. It is imperative.'_

_'Imperative? Why?'_

"Attention. Attention. It is seven o'clock. It is seven o'clock." The announcement from the overhead speaker announced the next train. "Alert. Seven o'clock. Seven o'clock." A pounding sound interrupted. 

_The boy shrugged, and was gone. "No! Wait!" Daisuke shouted. "Don't go!" _

"Daisuke?" The pounding continued. "Wake up!" 

With a start, he sat up in bed.

***

"The difficulty in leaving is that we don't know where to go," Yamato noted as he hefted the bag over his shoulder and peered out at the endless expanse of desert. It was early evening and they were about to leave. "Anyone have any bright ideas?" 

As expected, there was silence from the group. Hikari absently scratched her newly grown ears and peered out over the dry landscape. Sora reached over to pull the hood of her garment over her own ears and checked to see that the youngest member of their group was dressed warmly. "It's not as if we have a destination in mind," she spoke up. "Just pick." 

With a shrug, Yamato turned east and began to walk away from the sun. A moment later, the rest of the group began to follow. "I don't want to hear anyone ask if we're there yet," he said, half joking. 

"Are we there yet?" Jun questioned, in a teasing voice from her post on the roof over his head. "Kidding!" she added when he glared daggers in her direction.

"Just scout ahead," he grumbled. "Instead of being a pain." 

"Will do!" she replied, mock-saluting. "Ready?"

"Ready for takeoff!" Momoe called cheerfully. She spread her wings, wide bird-like appendages that were easily at least as wide as she was tall, took a running leap, and was soaring through the sky. 

"Right behind you!" Jun called, spreading her own wide wings and leaping into the air. An updraft caught her, a strong breeze lifted her, and she was soon easily soaring over the desert, feeling the wind in her wings as though she'd been born with them. _'Maybe I was born for this life,'_ she thought as she floated effortlessly. The breeze that evening was strong enough so she hardly needed to flap. 

Hikari peered up at the fliers. "I wish I could do that," she said in awe. "It looks like _so_ much fun." 

Sora smiled at the younger girl. "It is," she said with a knowing grin. "But it won't be much longer until your wings sprout, I'm sure." 

"It'll be a long time before I can fly," Iori spoke up. "For now I think I can stay on the ground." 

"Not I. As soon as they grow in, I'm going to try," Hikari said, peering up at the girls, who were circling high enough over head so that she almost thought they were birds. 

Suddenly, Momoe broke away and swooped lower towards the ground. "Wide river about half mile to the north, chief," she reported. She and Jun often would fly overhead to watch for oncoming dangers and to scout the landscape, and they'd gotten into the habit of referring to the boy as "chief." It was through such practices that, although Momoe and Jun were both older than he, he'd been designated unofficial leader of the group. 

"Anything else?" he questioned. "Food?" 

"Plenty of animals near the river," she replied. "Those four legged-deer-like things we've seen around. Smaller ones, too. Fish in the river, I'd expect." 

"That'd be a good place to camp," Sora offered. "Once the sun goes down all the way it'll be harder for us to travel." 

Yamato nodded in agreement. "Right. Lets head toward it. North you said?" 

"Yup," Momoe replied before catching an updraft and flying high into the sky. 

***


	6. The Journey Begins

Home Again

Part Six: The Journey Begins

***

Standard Disclaimer Thingies: Characters and concepts do not belong to me. The plot does. Please be aware that this plot is strange – it comes entirely from my imagination. It also contains some – and will contain more – references to various non-traditional relationships (mainly same-sex) that some readers may have a problem with. If this is you, it is advised that you stop reading soon. Thank you. 

***

Miyako had dreamt of flying again and when she awoke she had no recollection aside from that and that she had to leave. It was such an urge within her that she stood up and began dressing in a hurry. Only then was she aware of the clock beside her bed sounding the seven o'clock alarm in its mechanized voice.

"Alert. Seven o'clock. Seven o'clock. Attention. Seven o-" 

The alarm was silenced with a quick bang, and Miyako returned to reality, wondering to herself for the millionth time why they didn't have simple beeping clocks. She slowly continued the process of getting dressed from where she had left off. For some reason this day felt strange. 

And then she remembered why. Today was the day they were finally going to leave. 

Her things were crammed securely in a single bag. Miyako owned few possessions and so little packing had been required. She looked at the clock again. "Two hours until departure from planet Earth," she thought somberly before exiting her room. 

***

When the sun began to appear over the horizon again, Sora doused the fire and aroused Hikari and Iori. Silent as mice, they began to quickly pack their bags without complaint, knowing the dangers of alerting potentially dangerous animals to their presence.  After a quick meal left over from the evening before, they destroyed nearly all evidence of their camp and washed in the nearby river. 

 "Shall we follow the stream again?" Sora questioned from the safety of the shore as they youngest of their party drank their fill of the cool water. 

"Seems like the best plan," Yamato nodded. He glanced towards the sky, where Momoe and Jun were already enjoying the cool morning air. "Let's get in as much traveling as we can before that sun gets too bright." 

"Water's full," Hikari announced, returning from the side of the river with a few bags they'd created for the storage of water. She handed one to Sora and another to Yamato. 

"Thanks," he said appreciatively, and questioned Iori: "How are the fish?" 

"Strong and healthy," the boy replied. "There should be plenty for us to eat for dinner." 

"Everything packed?" Sora wondered. "Let's go." 

***

Daisuke glared daggers at Takeru when he opened the door. "I was in the middle of a dream," he accused with dangerous eyes. 

Fearful, Takeru backed up, holding his hands up in a defensive posture. "Sorry!" he said. "But they said to wake you early, and you're already ten minutes late for breakfast. Don't you remember that today is the day we leave?" 

"Yes, yes," the other grumbled, turning away from the door to grab a shirt from the side of a chair. 

"I don't know what the big deal is, anyway," the blonde added, leaning against the side of the door. "It's only a dream, and your alarm would have wakened you anyway." 

"Takeru, get out." 

"What?"   
"I said, 'Get out.'" He repeated the words with vehemence. "As in go away." 

"But I - ," Takeru began, only to find he was cut off as the door slammed in his face, nearly bashing into his nose. "Fine!" he shouted at the door. "_You_ get into trouble! I'm not!" Confused, he shrugged and walked away from the door. 

"Can I help it if some people are grumpy in the morning?" he wondered, his normally good mood destroyed by the senseless argument. "Must have been a bad dream if he was that upset. And what's the big deal about a _dream_ anyway?"

Grumbling, he entered the cafeteria-like room where they usually took meals and seated himself at the table, his breakfast in front of him. "Well, I'm glad we're getting out of here," he decided firmly. 

"Oh, aren't we all," Miyako agreed. "I can't stand another day of having to eat military food." She poked at the cereal she'd poured into her bowl and sighed. "Bran flakes. Ech." 

Jyou had barely touched his own food, as he had his nose in a book. "I'm not!" he announced, obviously a bit stressed by the pressure of the trip they were about to embark upon. "We're not ready!" 

"Well," Taichi began, mouth half-filled with cereal. "We really can't be ready for everything…" he paused to swallow…"since we don't know what we're preparing for." 

Jyou paid no attention to the rational statement, instead turning and grabbing the other boy by the collar. "Sure! For you it's not!" he said, half-yelling. "But what if someone gets hurt? What then? I'm not a doctor! I haven't even been to college!" He shook Taichi wildly. "One of us might just die!"

The last sentence was shouted quite loudly. Jyou released the hapless Taichi and collapsed over his book.  His victim loosened his collar and cleared his throat. Takeru and Miyako merely stared. 

"Well then perhaps you should have studied more," Mimi stated. Jyou glared at her, and the girl returned to her breakfast, oblivious to the glare.

"Jyou, I'm sure that there's no reason to put so much pressure on yourself," Miyako assured him. "We'll all be sure to help out if someone gets hurt, and we'll try our very hardest not to be injured." She turned to Takeru for confirmation. "Right?" 

"Well, I will," Takeru nodded in agreement. 

"So long as the threat comes from outside," Taichi muttered, still pulling at his collar. He cleared his throat. "I'm sure no one will go off and get hurt just because it will annoy you, Jyou." 

Jyou paid little or no attention to the reassuring comments. He sighed deeply and returned to his book. 

***

Jun let the wind blow between the feather-like flaps of her wings. Unlike Momoe, who had definite feather growth on her wings, Jun was endowed with leathery wings that were somewhat more flexible, though less powerful. As a result, she couldn't always fly as fast as Momoe unless the wind was good, but she was often better at the turns. She landed on the upper growth of a tree and peered at her companions below. 

"They're getting ready to leave," she called to Momoe, who landed on another nearby tree. 

"Should we fly down and see where they're headed?" the short-haired girl questioned. 

Jun shook her head. "No, I want to stay up here and fly," she replied with grin. "We'll head down after a while." She felt a cool breeze blow through her hair and breathed in the air. "I hope we end up somewhere other than a desert this time." 

"So do I," the other girl agreed. "A place in the woods is so much friendlier." Near the river they camped, there were trees and grass, but a few feet from the water and the grass dried up and the desert sands returned full force before long. She squinted over the landscape. "Any sign of Ken?" 

"Not one," she returned. "Boy, what luck, going off to scout way ahead instead of just circle overhead endlessly. I wish I had his job." 

"I don't," Momoe disagreed. "Too much danger, being alone like that. What if those dark things were to attack?" 

Jun's response was a shrug. "Let's just hope he can fly fast." A movement on the ground caught her eye and she noted Yamato waving towards them. "Time to change shifts then, I suppose." She stretched her wings, leapt from the branch, and let the wind carry her safely to the ground. Momoe landed beside her a moment later. 

"Were you planning to stay in the sky the whole day?" Yamato wondered the moment they'd landed. 

"Well, it had occurred to us," Momoe grinned. 

"We would have come down _eventually_," Jun said, with a mischievous grin towards her partner. 

"I'm sure you would," Sora nodded with a slight shake of the head.   
"So we keep heading east then?" 

"That's the plan so far," Yamato said, glancing towards Sora for confirmation. "We follow the river for as long as it takes us." 

"Any sign of it ending?" Iori spoke up. 

"Not yet," Momoe replied. "We're either following it to a lake or a sea where it flows to or to the mountains where its source is. Either place, in my opinion, is better than a desert." 

"We'll see what we come across," Sora said. She handed her one bag to Hikari, who would better be able to carry it on the ground, and spread her own wings, light brown with hints of pink and blue at the tips of the feathers. A strong breeze blew through the air, and she took a few running steps before the wind and a good strong flap of the wings was enough to launch her skyward. 

Yamato took a different approach, scaling one of the nearest trees. "Any problems, you know how to signal me," he reminded the girls. 

"No problem, fearless leader Chief," Jun replied, saluting with a grin. 

Once he'd reached a sufficient height, Yamato spread his own wings wide. They were generally pale yellow, but occasionally one could see a hint of blue within the folds. His were a leather-y type material similar to Jun's but instead of a stiff leather, his were also covered with a layer of thin hairs that made them appear furry and helped to keep him warm when not flying. The wind and the added altitude helped him to propel skyward with only a few strong flaps. 

***

They were assembled before the strange creation that was to take them to another world. Fujiyama and several of his assistants were fiddling with various knobs and buttons as though they had an idea of what they did. Takeru had the vague feeling they didn't, but pushed the nervous feeling out of his stomach and hefted his bag over his shoulder. 

"…no chance of communicating with this world," Miyako was saying, holding up a small radio transmitter and passing out identical ones to the rest of the group. "These are for communicating with each other. We don't know what to expect once we arrive, and it's perfectly logical to think we might get separated. We'll use these to keep in touch." 

Takeru looked his over, fiddling with the buttons and dials and wondering how he was going to make that machine work. Without much concern, he shrugged and added the contraption to his bag, which was already filled with a few clothes and some of the foodstuffs they would need for the excursion. He stared at the large machine before him with some awe and wondered how it would take them to another universe, and what would be found in that universe. 

Daisuke leaned over. "I'll bet that thing blows smoke and sputters like an old car," he muttered low enough so that only Takeru could hear. The blond boy stifled a laugh and poked him in the arm. 

"It'd better not," he murmured in response. "It could send us completely off course." 

"We _have_ a course?" was the other's joking response. "Ow!" Miyako had kicked him from behind, and was now glaring at him. Daisuke rubbed the back of his knee and watched as the doctor pulled a thick lever and sparks flew. 

A long metal strip had been laid across the floor, and now sparks began to fly from that. A whirring, sputtering noise could be heard, but no smoke emerged. Fujiyama frowned and shouted something over the noise to one of his assistants. Nodding, the man fiddled with a few dials and knobs. The machine quieted slightly, and the sparks grew larger. 

"Maybe we'd better move back a little," Taichi thought aloud, and took a step away. In silent agreement, the rest of the children followed. 

Suddenly, the sparks stopped, and a bright purple light shot from the metal strip where the sparks had once flown. Jyou peered closer, confused, for he had not seen any light bulbs involved in the machine. A blue light followed, flashing briefly before abating. It was followed quickly by a flash of white light, a yellow light, a green light, and then quickly, the lights flashed every color of the rainbow. Red flash, orange flash, yellow flash, green flash, blue flash, and all against the background of deep purple light. 

***

The sky was a simple blue with a few white puffy clouds overhead. The landscape now held more trees than before, and the sun wasn't as murderous as before. Sora let the clean, cool breeze hit her face and felt the calm breezes blow through her wings. To fly, she thought, was a great experience. 

And yet, somehow strange. Sora had few memories of her past or the world they'd left behind, but she knew with all certainty that people from her home did not fly. Did not have an extra set of ears atop their heads, or a thin tail that served no purpose other than to accessorize a wardrobe. 

"Storm's moving in," Yamato called out suddenly, flying near and breaking her train of thought. 

"Impossible," she contradicted. "The sky's as clear as anything." 

"For now," he answered, stretching one arm towards the outer horizon. A group of dark clouds was at the edge of the sky, looking very nasty and threatening indeed. 

"Should we stop?" she wondered, coming up shortly and hovering in mid-air – a skill which had taken great practice to learn. 

Yamato hesitated, pausing as she did. "I don't know. It looks pretty far off." He glanced toward the horizon again. The clouds appeared closer. He frowned, blinked, and studied them again. They looked even closer now. 

A strong wind blew just then, blowing them both in opposite directions. Sora cried out in surprise as she was thrown towards the ground, and struggled to maneuver her wings in time to stop the crash. Before she could though, another gust tossed her high into the air and further away from the location of the others. "Yamato!" she called, searching for familiarity. 

The dirt was lifted from the ground and blew in her eyes, making it impossible to see, and the leaves from the trees added to it, circling like a cyclone around her and taking her some distance from where she'd started. 

***

"It really can't handle more than one person at a time, but for safety's sake you'd best go in pairs," Fujiyama was shouting over the noise of the machine. "Hold on to each other, and your bags, and then jump on through. Who's first?" 

He was trying, Takeru could tell, to make the experience somehow sound more cheerful, but it was a difficult job. Nervously, the boy peered at the flashing lights, somehow doubtful they could be transported to another world simply by that power. Before he could voice his concern, however, Daisuke shouted over the roar:

"I'll go!" He raised his hand over his head. 

"So will I!" Takeru found himself shouting before he knew what he was doing. 

***

"This is … not good!" Jun shouted over the roar of the wind and the dirt. She'd tried desperately to hold on to a tree, but it wasn't offering much protection from the strong gusts. "Everybody…try to stay together!"

 Her words were swallowed by the sound of the wind, and she became aware that probably neither Iori nor Hikari could hear her over the noise. She thought she could see Momoe, clinging tightly to another tree, but couldn't clearly tell through the leaves that blew through the air. She heard a shout to her right, and squinted through the haze to try to see. There wasn't anyone there, but she felt a hand grab her own outstretched arm. 

"Hang on!" she shouted to whoever it was that had grabbed her. For a tenuous second, she released her grasp on the thick trunk of the tree and reached with her other hand. The wind gusted even stronger, and Jun and whoever held her hand were blown through the air as though they themselves were simply leaves or stones. 

*** 

Takeru glanced towards Daisuke to see if he was feeling the uncertain fear as well, but there was nothing to show that in his face. "You ready?" he asked instead, a grin on his face. 

"I guess," Takeru admitted reluctantly, shouting as well to be heard over the noise of the machine. 

"Come on! This is what we've been waiting for, remember?" Daisuke reminded him. "On three, okay?" 

"Okay," he shouted. "One…" 

"Two…" 

Together, they shouted: "Three!" and jumped with all their combined energy into the flashing lights. 

***

Takeru shut his eyes against the bright onslaught of lights. He felt dizzy, almost as though he was caught in a whirlpool or a tornado or the front of a roller coaster. The disorienting nausea continued for he knew not how long, and he began to wonder if perhaps he would never reach reality again. What if reality was all only a dream, anyway, and he was now waking up to find that he was in the center of a disorienting void and this contraption of Fujiyama had discovered that? He tried to open his eyes, but felt an instant headache and so shut them again. He didn't feel his bag, even though he knew he'd held it securely in his left hand, nor did he feel Daisuke's palm in his right. He could hardly feel anything. 

And then he felt a thump. The air was knocked from him and he landed with a crash, face first into an unrelenting but soft substance. Hot, sweltering air surrounded him, and he could feel beads of sweat forming on his neck. A grainy taste was in his mouth, and it was difficult to breathe. 

He knew not how long he lay there, hot, sticky, gritty, and disoriented, but he knew immediately he needed to get up if he was going to get anything done at all. He sat up, spitting the taste from his mouth and daring to open his eyes. 

He was in a wasteland. A vast wasteland of sand which spread as far as the eye could see. The plain, beige sands of a desert larger, he thought, than the Sahara of Africa or any other desert on Earth. Was this Earth? Who knew? 

It was sand then, that he felt clinging stubbornly to his arms and legs and hair, and sand which he had swallowed a mouthful of at first landing. He spit the sand from his mouth again and longed for a drink to wash the taste from his mouth. He looked around for his bag and then remembered Daisuke. 

The other boy was sitting up as well, attempting to wipe the gritty material from his arms. "Some trip, huh?" he questioned, and for once, he wasn't joking. 

Takeru made a face. "Swallowed sand," he muttered, spitting more of it on to the ground. "Where are our bags?" 

An expression of concern flashed over his face, as though he had not considered that before then. "Crap," he muttered. "I don't know." He began digging through the sand around him. "I _know _I had it!" 

"Maybe only organic material could pass through the portal," Takeru thought with some concern. "Maybe the bags were disintegrated." 

"No, then we wouldn't have clothes," Daisuke disagreed. He glanced down at himself for a moment to be certain he was still dressed, and breathed a sigh of relief to find he was still dressed in the simple uniform from the base. It was rumpled now, but thankfully still present and not damaged, except, of course, to be half-covered with sand. 

"Found it!" Takeru said then, noticing the strap of his bag sticking out of the sand. He gripped the canvas handle and yanked with all his might. "Yes!" Eagerly, he rummaged through it, searching for the single canteen of water he was certain he'd packed. 

"Don't drink it all," the other warned. "Who knows how far it is to water?" He spotted the handle of his own a few meters away, and eagerly crawled through the sand to retrieve it.

"I know, I know." Takeru opened the container and let a few drops fall into his mouth. Swallowing the cool, clear water, he felt relief, finally, from the coarse taste in his mouth. "Yes! Sand is definitely not something to eat." 

Daisuke rummaged through his own pack and found the radio communicator Miyako had given them – only minutes ago? Or was it hours? Maybe even days. Who knew how long they'd been traveling through the portal before landing here. He turned the knobs and listened, but got only static in response. "Hello? Anyone there?" he questioned while holding down a button clearly marked '_Talk_.' He shrugged. "I don't know if these things even work." 

Takeru took his own from his bag. "If we can figure out how to communicate between us two then maybe we'll have a chance of communicating with the others," he suggested. "Hear this?" he spoke into the machine. 

"Yeah, but not through this thing," Daisuke answered, gesturing to the communicator. He squinted across the desert, and then rummaged in his bag for a pair of sunglasses that he was certain he'd packed for just such an occasion. "Well, can't stay here for ever. Let's get moving." 

Reluctantly, Takeru agreed, pulling himself to his feet and dusting the sand from his uniform. He pulled a wide-brimmed hat from his bag, not having packed sunglasses, and then pulled it over his shoulders. "Which way?" 

***

Yes, yes, yes. Long time no update. Sorry, sorry, sorry! Sorry again! 

On the plus side, though, it's easy to see (I think) that this story is (gasp!) going somewhere. Personally, I'm fairly happy with this chapter. Hope y'all are, too. ^_^

Coming soon, the adventures of Daisuke and Takeru as they trek across a barren wasteland. The adventures of everyone else as they try to figure out where the bleep they're going. Will they ever meet? Will they survive? And what in someone's name ever happened to Koushiro? To find out some of these answers, tune in soon, when I'll post more! Thanks for reading, reviewing, etc. I promise it won't be so long to an update next time! ^_^ 


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